Articles by Eden Ezsak

Public urination is common in Bengaluru. However, some people have no qualms about open defecation too. Pic: Ganga Madappa “What happens in the bathroom stays in the bathroom” was the general consensus at my childhood household. Unless there was a health concern, no one discussed their bowel movements. Ever! It wasn’t until I moved away to college, at 18-years-old, and had to share three bathroom stalls with 40 other girls on my dorm floor that bathroom habits became public knowledge. And then I arrived in Bengaluru. I cannot remember the first time I encountered public urination in India. Perhaps I…

Public urination is common in Bengaluru. However, some people have no qualms about open defecation too. Pic: Ganga Madappa “What happens in the bathroom stays in the bathroom” was the general consensus at my childhood household. Unless there was a health concern, no one discussed their bowel movements. Ever! It wasn’t until I moved away to college, at 18-years-old, and had to share three bathroom stalls with 40 other girls on my dorm floor that bathroom habits became public knowledge. And then I arrived in Bengaluru. I cannot remember the first time I encountered public urination in India. Perhaps I…

Pic: Deepa Mohan Auto-drivers come in all shapes and sizes: old, young, thin, fat, toothless, handsome, smelly, bearded, grumpy, cheery, etc. Like a good box of chocolates, you never know what kind of driver you’re going to get. Sometimes you can depend on them and you feel like they are there to support you… At other times, they seem to derive joy from your frustration, they tease you when they pass by, they try to kill you with their reckless driving, and when you need them the most, they are nowhere to be found. After a few weeks of taking…

Pic: Deepa Mohan Auto-drivers come in all shapes and sizes: old, young, thin, fat, toothless, handsome, smelly, bearded, grumpy, cheery, etc. Like a good box of chocolates, you never know what kind of driver you’re going to get. Sometimes you can depend on them and you feel like they are there to support you… At other times, they seem to derive joy from your frustration, they tease you when they pass by, they try to kill you with their reckless driving, and when you need them the most, they are nowhere to be found. After a few weeks of taking…

Looks can be very deceiving. Pic: Eden Ezsak When people ask about my daily discoveries in Bengaluru, I have a hard time recalling what I still find surprising in India. After two months, I have moved past the innumerous cows that so nonchalantly add to the congestion on the Bengaluru roads. The symphony of barking dogs, shouts, calls to prayer, traffic and endless horns has drifted quietly into the background of my consciousness. I no longer feel like rickshaw rides are similar to my childhood experiences at amusement parks. The perpetually burning mound of garbage near my apartment has become…

Looks can be very deceiving. Pic: Eden Ezsak When people ask about my daily discoveries in Bengaluru, I have a hard time recalling what I still find surprising in India. After two months, I have moved past the innumerous cows that so nonchalantly add to the congestion on the Bengaluru roads. The symphony of barking dogs, shouts, calls to prayer, traffic and endless horns has drifted quietly into the background of my consciousness. I no longer feel like rickshaw rides are similar to my childhood experiences at amusement parks. The perpetually burning mound of garbage near my apartment has become…